TFTD - worth remembering

"Always be kind, for everyone is fighting a hard battle."

                                                                - Plato -

TFTD - the name of love

“Forgiveness is the name of love practiced among people who love poorly. The hard truth is that all people love poorly. We need to forgive and be forgiven every day, every hour increasingly. That is the great work of love among the fellowship of the weak that is the human family.” 

                                                                                             - Henri J.M. Nouwen -

TFTD

The word resentment means to re-feel...to feel again.  Someone wrongs or wounds you; in resenting it, you re-feel the injury.  And you re-hurt yourself.  The Hebrew Talmud says that a person who bears a grudge is "Like one who, having cut one hand while handling a knife, avenges himself by stabbing the other hand." 

                                                                                   - Norman Vincent Peale -                                    

TFTD - No time like the present

"You who are letting miserable misunderstandings run on from year to year, meaning to clear them up some day; you who are keeping wretched quarrels alive because you cannot quite make up your minds that now is the day to sacrifice your pride and kill them; you who are letting your neighbor starve until you hear that he is dying of starvation or letting your friend's heart ache for a word of appreciation or sympathy, which you mean to give him some day; if you could only know and see and feel all of a sudden that time is short, how it would break the "spell."  How you would go instantly and do the thing which you might never have another chance to do."

                                                                                                   - Phillips Brooks -

TFTD - Help me live it *

"Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.  Where there is hatred let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy."

                                                                        - Francis of Assisi - 

It seems like the least we should be praying for, but oh how huge it really is! How crucial, how challenging, how small, how life-changing - like so much of God's work :)


*I pray this prayer in the spirit of yesterday's post. It's the same message, though obviously St Francis was much more articulate, concise, and got to the rub of the thing far more effectively!

The Day's Result

The Day’s Result

Is anybody happier because you passed his way?

Does anyone remember that you spoke to him today?

The day is almost over and its toiling time is through;

Is there anyone to utter now a kindly word of you?

Did you give a cheerful greeting to the friend who came along,

Or a churlish sort of “Howdy”; then vanish in the throng?

Were you selfish, pure and simple, as you rushed along your way,

Or is someone mighty grateful for a deed you did today?

Can you say tonight, in parting with the day that’s slipping fast,

That you helped a single brother of the many that you passed?

Is a single heart rejoicing over what you did or said?

Does the man whose hopes were fading now with courage look ahead?

Did you waste the day or lose it, was it well or poorly spent?

Did you leave a trail of kindness, or a scar of discontent?

As you close your eyes in slumber, do you think that God would say,

“You have earned one more tomorrow by the work you did today?”

                                                                                - Unknown -

TFTD

"Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit."

                                                                                      - Peter Ustinov -

Servanthood

"We need to arrange a servanthood conference, with workshops in love, forgiveness, feet-washing, cross bearing- in short, workshops in Christlikeness. God is not waiting for people to get big enough to use, but to get small enough in their own eyes for Him to entrust with His mission and Spirit. Christ cannot be represented by swaggering leaders who "lord it over" the flock of God. He cannot be represented by puffed-up laymen who nominate themselves as church bosses. He can be honestly manifested only in the lives of those who feel, as did Paul, that they are "less than the least of all the saints."

                                                                               - W. E. McCumber -

I choose gratitude

When I started writing this blog, I had nothing more, or less, in mind than gratitude. Simply to be thankful for all the good things in my life, each and every one of which has been given to me, directly or indirectly, by the grace of God. I intended to write as a reminder (mainly to myself) that even in a day that looked utterly dreadful, there was always something, if only a fleeting moment, that was good and wonderful. That  every day contained a blessing, and each day was itself a blessing.

Life is complicated though ( a blessing in itself, though if often doesn't feel that way), and it has been very hard at times to keep sight of the blessings, or, for that matter, to spot them at all. Illness, sadness, disappointment, loss, anger... they can seem so all-consuming, so much bigger than the little things that make us smile. But in the end, the little things are infinitely more powerful than any catastrophe that life can throw at us. Those of you who know me will know that I don't say that lightly, nor do I think that it makes the awful things that happen any less painful. Life hurts. But I thank God I can feel pain, because it means I'm alive. I thank God for the heartache, because it means I love and I hope. I thank God that even when I feel like I'm running on empty, my reserves are somehow replenished so that I am given the strength to carry on, and to do things I never would have thought possible. 

I thank God that I can get angry with Him, and I can ask Him "why?", and still He stays with me and keeps on loving me. I thank God that even when I handle my life and my self so badly, He forgives me and reminds me that His gift, once given, is for all eternity. I thank God for crying with me, and not minding (too much) when my prayers are full of complaints and requests and I might be forgetting to give as much as I could be. I thank God for taking all the pain I pile on Him, and for hurting more so I suffer less. I thank God for walking beside me when I wake and for watching over me as I sleep. I thank God for never giving up on me, even when I feel like giving up on myself. 

I thank God for loving me, which is the most blessed thing anyone could ever do.

Henri Nouwen writes, "Gratitude as a discipline involves a conscious choice. I can choose to be grateful even when my emotions and feelings are still steeped in hurt and resentment. it is amazing how many occasions present themselves in which I can choose gratitude instead of a complaint...I can choose to speak about goodness and beauty, even when my inner eye still looks for someone to accuse or something to call ugly."

I choose gratitude. 

TFTD - Forgiveness

"Forgiveness is God's invention for coming to terms with a world in which, despite their best intentions, people are unfair to each other and hurt each other deeply."

                                                                                    - Sharon Jaynes -

What I learned from my dog

Yesterday, on the first day of the new year, my dog passed away. He had been with me for 18 years, having spent his first year abandoned before we rescued him - just as he was running out of time and the SPCA was about to put him down. Max was saved, and though he was "only" a dog, his life had purpose and meaning. He was part of a plan, and his life has shown me how crucial we can be to God's plan, even if we don't know it; even if we do nothing else but simply live. 

Max taught me so many things - even if it did take me some time to recognise some of them. He taught me:-

* That true love really doesn't think of itself. He was fiercely protective, and in turn, I would have done anything for him.

* That sometimes, love means letting go.

* To love with my whole heart.

* To always be happy to see the people I love.

* To smile a lot.

* Never to hold a grudge. (He was really good at this; I am still working on it!)

* To forgive, quickly and willingly - though that doesn't mean allowing people to walk all over you time and again. He was no pushover :)

* To approach each new day and every new experience with enthusiasm - even the walk he took pretty much every day of his life was utterly thrilling to him, every single time.

* To be grateful for the small things. I've never met anyone so happy to be given a single scoop of vanilla ice cream :)

* To show affection to the ones I care for, freely and often.

* To be patient (no one was as patient as Max waiting for us to finish what we were doing and take him for a walk / to the park / for a drive. That dog could out-wait the most determined procrastinator... And he was so patient when he fell ill it inspired me even while it broke my heart.)

* To be tolerant.

* To never give up, but to know when to let go.

* To be strong, but to know it's not weak to lean on someone else.
* To be brave, and it's ok to be afraid.

* To share, no matter how much or how little I have.

* To think of others.

* To be sensitive to how others feel, and to freely offer sympathy and a hand (paw) to hold.

* To just be there for those I love, unfailingly.

* To give lots of cuddles.

* To be humble.

* To trust and have faith. Max never doubted that I would love him and keep him safe. If my little dog could have such absolute faith in me, why do I have trouble putting my life in God's hands as completely and willingly as Max put his in mine?

* To be loyal.

* To never be afraid to show my joy - or to share my sadness with those who love me.

* To feel the wind and the sunshine on my face and rejoice, just because. 

* To take pleasure in every meal, and just enjoy it for what it is.

* To get enough sleep!

* To protect and defend those I love. 

* To live in the moment. Max had mastered this, and I think a lot of his happiness came from this place! This is a big one, and I'm going to keep trying because so much comes from this one thing.

* What you look like doesn't matter. It's what's in your heart, and in your soul (though Max was utterly gorgeous). 

* What someone else looks like, how much they know or what they have really really doesn't matter - what does matter is their heart and how they treat you.
* Things don't matter. People do.

* To treat others with respect.

* To be silly sometimes.

* To play, every chance I get.

* To laugh, a lot.

* To be kind.

* To enjoy every day to its fullest, whether you are deaf, blind, ill, in a wheelchair or in pain. Max enjoyed life right to the very end, and se he got every last possible atom of joy out of it, and gave even more.

* To give more than you receive.

*To be thankful.

* To sit under the shade of a tree on a hot day now and then.

* To do nothing from time to time, but just be, and not feel guilty about it.

* To accept praise, attention and recognition without excusing it away.

* To accept love without minimising it.

* To accept that I am worthy of love without questioning it.

Just by living, Max taught me all this and much much more. Not bad for a little dog, huh?

My darling Max, always smiling

At rest, in his favourite place, under the most fragrant flowering tree in the garden

TFTD - Tend your lamp

"Don’t think that love, to be true, has to be extraordinary. What is necessary is to continue to love. How does a lamp burn, if it is not by the continuous feeding of little drops of oil? When there is no oil, there is no light and the bridegroom will say: “I do not know you”. Dear friends, what are our drops of oil in our lamps? They are the small things from every day life: the joy, the generosity, the little good things, the humility and the patience. A simple thought for someone else. Our way to be silent, to listen, to forgive, to speak and to act. That are the real drops of oil that make our lamps burn vividly our whole life. Don’t look for Jesus far away, He is not there. He is in you, take care of your lamp and you will see Him.”

                                                                                                      - Mother Teresa - 

*Image credit